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Network apparatus

Network apparatus description/claims

This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-171748, filed on Jun. 29, 2007, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference into the present application.

1. Field of the Invention

A technique disclosed in the present specification relates to a network apparatus which is capable of being connected to a network and with peripheral devices, and controls accesses to the peripheral devices from terminals on the network. More particularly, the technique relates to a network apparatus which is capable of reserving an access right to a peripheral device that is not yet connected to the apparatus, from one of the terminals on a network, and prevents the peripheral device from being accessed from other terminals on the network after the device has been connected to the apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art

Peripheral devices that are connected to an apparatus connected to a network and not having direct connection to the network are widely known. Such peripheral devices can be accessed from terminals on the network. In such peripheral devices, USBs and RS232Cs for example are often used as interfaces. In general, peripheral devices directly connected to a network can be accessed from plural terminals simultaneously through the network. However, each of the peripheral devices connected to the apparatus via a USB or the like only allow one-to-one access between the device itself and the apparatus accessing the device. In this specification, a peripheral device which makes one-to-one access between the device itself and an apparatus connected therewith is referred to as “single-access peripheral device” or, simply, “peripheral device”, in regards to the characteristic of such “peripheral device” not being able to accept simultaneous accesses from plural terminals. In addition, the term “access” as used in the specification refers to the transmission, e.g. sending and receiving, of data to and from a peripheral apparatus. In other words, “access” refers to communication between peripheral apparatus and terminal.

Such peripheral devices are each connected with a terminal capable of being connected to a network, and can be utilized by the other terminals on the network via the connected terminal; however, each of the peripheral devices cannot be accessed from plural terminals simultaneously and therefore, when the user of one terminal accesses the peripheral device, the users of the other terminals cannot access the peripheral device. For example, when the peripheral device is a scanner, there may be a case where a user inserts a document into the scanner, and while the user goes back to the place where his/her terminal is set, another user may operate the scanner before the initial user utilizes the scanner. To deal with such undesirable condition, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-236301 discloses an apparatus to which peripheral devices can be connected, and allows an access right reservation to one of the peripheral device for the user of the terminal. In the following, an apparatus capable of being connected to a network and to which peripheral devices can be connected is simply referred to as “network apparatus.”

When peripheral devices have already been connected to a network apparatus, it is possible for both the network apparatus and the terminals to recognize what kind of peripheral devices are connected, and reservations of the peripheral devices can be made according to the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-236301. Incidentally, peripheral devices connected to a network apparatus on a one-to-one basis can be easily attached thereto and detached therefrom because of a simple protocol for establishing logical connection (that is, a connection viewed from a software standpoint). Therefore, there may be a situation where, after newly connecting a peripheral device to a network apparatus, the user goes back to his/her terminal to use the newly connected peripheral device. For example, there is a case where, after newly connecting a scanner with documents inserted to a network apparatus, the user goes back to the place where his/her terminal is set to use the scanner. In the network apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-236301, an access right reservation is not allowed for peripheral device that is unconnected at the time of requesting the reservation, because the peripheral device cannot be identified. Accordingly, such a network apparatus, when newly connected with a peripheral device by a user, allows another user to access the newly connected peripheral device before the user who set up the connection accesses to the device. In order to solve such a problem, the present invention has been accomplished. The present specification discloses a network apparatus which is capable of reserving an access right to peripheral devices that are yet unconnected from one of the terminals on the network.

The network apparatus disclosed in this specification can be connected to the network, and also with one or more peripheral devices. The network apparatus is capable of controlling accesses to the one or more peripheral devices from terminals on the network. The network apparatus has a communicator, a detector, and an access controller. The communicator receives a reservation command and a sender ID from one of the terminals on the network. The term “reservation command” as used herein refers to a command for requesting the network apparatus for an access right to a peripheral device that is not connected at that time, but is expected to be connected to the to the apparatus. The sender ID identifies the sender of the reservation command. The detector detects the peripheral device to be newly connected to the network apparatus. The access controller, when the detector has detected the newly connected peripheral device, conducts a process for rejecting accesses to the detected peripheral device requested by senders other than the sender identified by the received sender ID.

The network apparatus and the peripheral devices may be wire connected via connectors, or wirelessly connected by radio instead of the physical connectors for the wire connection. Examples of the detector may include device-recognition software with a plug-and-play function. Examples of the sender ID may include the IP address of each terminal that transmits the reservation command and the user ID and password inputted by the user of the terminal. In the case where the IP address is used, a “sender” would mean the terminal which transmitted the reservation command. In the case where the user ID or password is used, a “sender” would mean a user who inputted it.

On receiving a reservation command along with a sender ID, the network apparatus may give an exclusive access right of the peripheral device newly connected thereto, to the user identified by the received sender ID, even in a case where the peripheral device is unconnected to the network apparatus at the time of receiving the reservation command. The access right reservation to the unconnected peripheral device may thus be obtained without identifying the device on receiving the reservation command.

The technique disclosed in this specification can be implemented in computer program products. According to the network apparatus disclosed in the specification, users can reserve an access right to unconnected peripheral device by way of a terminal on a network.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a server (network apparatus).

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a main process conducted by the server.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a reservation process conducted by the server.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a connecting process conducted by the server.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a disconnecting process conducted by the server.

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